How to Plan & Auto-Post Instagram Stories with PLANOLY

Instagram Stories are a fun and effective way to engage with your followers, maximize the reach of content on your grid, and create excitement for upcoming news from your brand. Whether you're using trending visuals and behind-the-scenes moments or interactive polls and links, Instagram Stories are core to a successful social media engagement strategy. In fact, “nearly 58% of people have become more interested in a brand/product they saw on Stories,” according to HootSuite. So, let’s dive in and see how you can use Stories for your brand with PLANOLY.

Why Plan Your Instagram Stories in PLANOLY?

Your Instagram planning workspace in PLANOLY is your home for visually drafting, planning, and scheduling your Instagram Stories. Plus, with a full editorial calendar on your plate, auto-posting your Instagram Stories is just the thing to help you save time and work smarter (not harder).

Use PLANOLY’s Web Dashboard or Mobile App to:

• Stay organized by using collection folders for different stories or campaigns. 

• Visually plan the order of your stories using the drag and drop feature.

• Upload multiple stories at once, including photos and videos. 

• Draft story text, hashtags, and sticker links. When it's time to manually post, these will copy over to your clipboard!

• Edit your stories all in one place with our advanced photo editor.

• Schedule your stories for auto-post or set a reminder to post.

Sound familiar? Stories planning in PLANOLY mirrors how you would plan content for your Instagram grid in PLANOLY – it’s your personal storyboard! Plus, at the top of your IG planning grid, you’ll see a Story bar with all of your upcoming planned stories.

How to Auto-Post Your Instagram Stories

The Story bar is located at the top of your PLANOLY grid - it allows you to add Instagram Story content to plan and schedule easily. It's positioned above your PLANOLY grid the same way that Instagram Stories are located above your feed on the Instagram app! Here's how to get started:

1. Tap on the plus (+) sign with a circle around it where it says 'Add Story.'
2. Add your Instagram Story content by choosing a video or image from your computer, Dropbox, Google Drive, or Canva.
3. Tap 'Upload' to add your Stories to the unscheduled Instagram Stories drafts.
4. Tap on the content you'd like to plan, select your desired schedule date and time, or choose from one of your quick schedule options, then click to toggle on auto-post. Tap 'Save.'
5. Your upcoming scheduled Instagram Stories will appear in their posting order in your Stories grid as well as the Story bar from your main grid view.

Upload Multiple Instagram Stories from PLANOLY to Instagram

You can now upload, plan, and post multiple Instagram Stories directly from PLANOLY to Instagram. This feature comes in handy when you have a series of Instagram Stories that you want to post at the same time. Here's how to use the multi-post feature for Instagram Stories:

1. Tap on 'Add Story' in your Story bar, or go to your Stories drafts and tap on the (+) icon in the bottom middle of the screen.
2. Select up to 10 content items at a time and tap 'Add.'
3. Tap on the double square icon in the bottom right corner to create a multi-post Instagram Story, & select Upload. *PLANOLY Tip: Multi-post Instagram Stories will have a double square icon in the middle.
4. You can choose to 'Post Now' or schedule it out for a later time and date, and tap 'Save.' This type of Story is unavailable for auto-post. 
5. When it's time to post your Instagram Story, your content will appear, and you will select 'Post Story.'
6. You will then be redirected to Instagram. Tap on the camera in the top left corner of Instagram and tap 'Select Multiple.'
7. You should see your scheduled Stories at the top. Select those and tap 'Next.'
8. You can then add any tags, stickers, or anything else you'd like to include. Finally, tap 'Next' and share your Instagram Stories!

Simplify your social strategy for Instagram by easily creating, planning, and scheduling your Story content on PLANOLY. Auto-posting your IG Stories has never been easier. For more tips on how to auto-post your Instagram Stories, check out our help guide article here.